Since it has become normal practice for a long time to equip electric switches arranged on a motor vehicle instrument panel with a lighting system, steering column switches with illumination have also been used in particular vehicle models in the last few years. A steering column switch with illuminated switch lever is known from the printed specification of European patent 0 160 905. Several light emitting diodes are arranged as light sources in the switch lever of the steering column switch according to that printed specification. Among other things, it is disadvantageous to arrange a light source in the switch lever because the light source is then exposed to hard impacts as the switch lever is switched on and.
A steering column switch has also become known in which the switch lever includes read-out panels, which may be illuminated by light guides extending along the switch lever and which are aligned to a light source by a light-input area. In a construction of this kind the light source can in principle be arranged in any desired place.
The present invention addresses the problem of arranging a light source, from which at least one light guide is conducted to at least one read-out panel in the switch lever of a steering column switch, in such a way that the light source is protected and that together with the steering column switch a compact structural unit is formed.